Several vulnerable Republicans plan to skip the party’s unusual midterm convention in Dallas this week amid President Donald Trump’s falling approval ratings and ongoing voter blowback on issues like his war on Iran and rising gas prices. Multiple Republicans said they will be too busy meeting with constituents or hitting the campaign trail to make it to Dallas. Others told Politico that the high cost of the event – it can run House lawmakers a suggested donation of $25,000 for a set of tickets and hotel accommodations – gave them pause. Republican strategists and political experts have also pointed out that Trump’s unpopularity could drag down candidates who need to appeal to swing voters. “Sen. Collins has never attended a convention during a year when she was in cycle,” Collins’ campaign spokesperson Blake Kernen told The Portland Press Herald last week.“Sen. Sullivan is spending this week campaigning across Alaska,” Sullivan spokesperson Nate Adams said in a statement to The New York Times.Collins is fending off a challenge from former Democratic state legislator Troy Jackson in a tightly contested race, while Sullivan is facing off against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who’s been neck-and-neck with him in recent polls. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) both plan to skip the 2026 Republican Convention in Dallas this week.Bill Clark via Getty Images“Our bosses are back home,” Fitzpatrick, who is running for re-election in a battleground district in Pennsylvania, noted in a statement to CBS News. “Times are tough, and we need to be listening to everything they’re saying about the struggles that they’re encountering in their budgets and their kitchen table and their businesses, healthcare and act on it. That’s the way the system’s supposed to work … not going to some convention center holding signs up.”CBS News reported that dozens of candidates in competitive gubernatorial, Senate and House races could be absent. Absences could extend beyond battleground members, too. According to a Politico story, 45 Republican candidates and members across various seats have given a host of reasons for ducking the event. Those included Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), who said he had district events, and House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who said he had a dove-hunting gathering. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is expected to miss the convention due to campaigning for his gubernatorial race. First lady Melania Trump also won’t be in attendance, per a Washington Post report citing a White House official.According to a CBS News report, dozens of candidates in competitive gubernatorial, Senate and House races may skip the 2026 Republican Convention. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesMany independent voters have soured on Trump in recent months. According to a YouGov survey in late August, just 37% of voters nationally approved of how Trump was handling his job as president, and only 26% of independents did.“I think the basic logic is that with Trump’s general popularity low ― an approval rating in the mid-to-high 30s based on the polling ― candidates in close races would worry that being closely associated with the president will hurt their chances with the swing voters they need to win,” Eric Schickler, a political science professor at UC Berkeley, told HuffPost. “So this is an incentive to stay away. At the same time, Republican candidates do want the MAGA base to show up and vote ― and that is the reason some would want to stay closer to the president than otherwise.”Roughly 100 Republican candidates and lawmakers are expected to attend the convention, a source familiar with the planning told Axios, including Republicans in competitive districts like Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), who are expected to give remarks at the gathering. Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton and Michigan Senate candidate and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) are also planning to address the convention. A GOP official noted that party leaders understood the demands different lawmakers face in their districts and recognized that some needed time to campaign. The official pushed back, however, on the idea that such absences were an effort by lawmakers to distance themselves from the president. They argued, instead, that Trump and the convention would help energize the party’s base voters. “The Republican National Convention, tomorrow night in Dallas, is really ‘HOT!’” he claimed. “The American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Mavericks, is totally sold out! Everybody wants to be there, but we’re really asking only those Candidates that are in tight Races, a little up, a little down, or even, to speak.”Questions remain about how effective the convention will be at boosting voter enthusiasm, given both the blowback the administration faces on various policy decisions and the fact that the event will compete with two major NFL games for television viewership on Wednesday and Thursday. “For many Republicans in competitive states and districts, the cost of attending is almost certainly greater than any benefit,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.